Both Hakim Sana'i in the Hadiqat al-Haqiqah and Jalal al-Din Rumi in the Masnavi utilize the figure of Jesus ('Isa) as a powerful metaphor for the divine inner soul, contrasted against the demands of the physical body. Sana'i explicitly warns against overfeeding the physical 'donkey' while starving the spiritual 'Jesus.' Rumi echoes this exact pedagogical theme by advising seekers not to burden the 'Jesus of the Spirit' with the heavy, forced labor (bigar) of the 'skeleton-filled body.' In both poets' works, the spiritual Jesus represents the inner source of eternal life and true vision, which must not be sacrificed, enslaved, or degraded to serve outward bodily desires.